It is not uncommon for television programming transmitted to viewers to include Internet web addresses or other information that the viewers can use to access additional information related to the programming. For example, television advertisements often include Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) which identify the web site of the advertising company. Similarly, television news programs and televised events often display URLs which identify web sites corresponding to the respective programs and events. Under current practice, a viewer desiring to access a URL displayed in a television program must either write down the URL or attempt to remember it. The viewer then must enter the URL in a browser program on their personal computer in order to access the corresponding web site. This can be inconvenient and frustrating for the viewer.
Although systems have been developed recently which allow viewers to access web sites from a television using a television set-top box, such systems typically operate in a manner similar to web browsers on personal computers. As a result, such systems are generally unable to extract a URL from a televised program such that the viewer need not reenter it to access the corresponding web site. Furthermore, such systems are unable to present web content to a viewer in synchronization with television programming which includes the corresponding URLs. For example, even a viewer which has a computer and a television in close proximity must continually enter the televised URLs in order to view a sequence of web content related to the television programming.